This evening I flew 700 miles from Sendai (Miyagi) to Fukuoka rather than taking three bullet trains. At the time of booking I was happy to pay $66 extra to fly. Current wisdom says flying has advantages over high-speed rail for journeys over about 500 miles (about 800 km). Source: The Geography of Transport Systems.…… Continue reading Bullet Train vs. Plane
Category: In-Transit
Traveling with Salarymen
Arrived Tokyo HND, late afternoon Thursday, off a thirteen-hour flight and a +14-hour time difference. Took rush hour trains to a downtown hotel and an early night. Japan only reopened to independent travelers two weeks ago, so I’m expecting to see few westerners on my travels.
Next up: Tokyo
On board UA881 en route to Tokyo HND.
LIS–BOS
On board, Lisbon LIS–Boston BOS.
An Unplanned Flight
Posted An Unplanned Flight.
An Unplanned Flight
When flying to Europe I favor flying through Amsterdam Schiphol AMS, a generally efficient port of entry to Europe. Having two to four daily nonstops by Delta and partner KLM helps. Dwight and I, our nephews and their parents, are currently in-flight with KLM from Minneapolis MSP to Amsterdam Schiphol AMS. It’s not how we…… Continue reading An Unplanned Flight
Planes, Trains, Buses
Purchased the final tickets for a family trip this summer with our nephews and their parents. Portuguese train tickets opened up this week for our day of travel. By buying them now, we paid less than half the price closer to the day of travel. We’ve now reserved our complete journey from Minneapolis, back to…… Continue reading Planes, Trains, Buses
Planespotting
For dinner we shared a surprisingly good charcuterie plate in a San Francisco airport hotel bar. Originally, we’d also planned to order a tonkatsu (Japanese pork cutlet) sandwich, but a couple cookies to take back to our room seemed plenty. We’d decided a red-eye to Minneapolis did not appeal. An 8:00 a.m. departure tomorrow morning…… Continue reading Planespotting
Sausalito Ferry
Flew to San Francisco, then BART to Downtown, then ferry to Sausalito for the night. Behind us, Downtown, and the Bay Bridge. Tomorrow we take a Marin County transit bus further north, then we start walking, ending up back in San Francisco on Friday.
SFO Arrival
Upon arrival at San Francisco SFO, an Easter bunny marshalled us through the gate area.